Wastewater evaporation apparatus and system

ABSTRACT

The present invention comprises an evaporation system for wastewater wherein the staging tank is utilized to pretreat the wastewater to strip hydrocarbons from the staging tank before sending to the evaporator by sparging the wastewater in staging tank with air from the blower and or hot gases from the combustion utilized in the evaporation system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

In general, the present invention relates to an apparatus, system andmethod for disposing of contaminated wastewater. More particularly, thepresent invention provides an evaporation system for wastewaterutilizing a staging tank where the staging tank is sparged by air fromthe blower of the evaporator system to strip hydrocarbons from thewastewater and then pumping these stripped hydrocarbons into thecombustion process, flare, hydrocarbon filter, carbon filter, and orcombinations thereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is known to treat the wastewater for general reuse and return to theenvironment although the amount of wastewater to be treated and cost oftreating can be prohibitive. It is also known to evaporate thewastewater or large percentage of such thereby reducing the amount ofwater left to be treated and or returned to the environment. Evaporationis often preferred because of its generally light footprint on theenvironment when emissions are controlled and the operation cost of themassive evaporation is not prohibitive.

Submerged combustion heating is generally a method whereby hot productsof combustion are forced through a liquid or liquid-solid mixture toheat the liquid or liquid-solid mixture. An advantage of this heatingsystem is that the heat exchange occurs directly between the hot gaseousproducts of combustion and the liquid. In a submerged combustion system,the hot combustion is typically fueled by a combination of air andnatural gas. Another benefit of such application is the natural gasneeded to fuel the evaporation may come from the well operation therebyeliminating the need for transporting a fuel.

The operational benefits of evaporation are reduced handling of thecontaminated water, which may streamline the entire operation; fewertrucks needed to move the wastewater mean less site damage, maintenanceand general reduced liability; and overall, less dependence on waterhaulers eliminates scheduling delays and fees. The environmentalbenefits include less CO2 emissions as the need for trucks is reducedand or eliminated as well as less road damage and noise associated withfewer trucks. Other benefits may be reduced flaring, improved publicperception of evaporation versus injection, and less likelihood ofspills or surface water contamination.

Evaporation systems, typically, comprise a staging tank that accepts thewastewater before sending to the evaporator. Large scale evaporation ofsignificant amounts of wastewater does create challenges. It is,therefore, desirable to provide a pretreatment process to wastewaterbefore evaporation means from water evaporation systems such as but notlimited to submerged combustion applications. The balance of cost, time,and operational efficiency has created a need for new and improvedpretreatment for wastewater before entering evaporation. The abovediscussed limitations in the prior art is not exhaustive. Thus, there isa need for an apparatus, method and system to provide a new and improvedevaporation system that maximizes efficiency and is environmentallyfriendly. The current invention provides an inexpensive, time saving,more reliable apparatus, system and method where the prior art fails.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types ofwastewater treatment associated with well operations now present in theprior art, the present invention provides a new and improved wastewaterevaporation apparatus, system and method of use. As such, the generalpurpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequentlyin greater detail, is to provide a new and improved wastewaterevaporation application, which has all the advantages of the prior artdevices and none of the disadvantages.

To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises anevaporation system for contaminated water and or wastewater wherein thestaging tank is utilized to pretreat the wastewater to striphydrocarbons from the staging tank before sending to the evaporator bysparging the wastewater in staging tank with air from the blower and orutilizing a heat boost from the burner utilized in the evaporationsystem. The current invention may be utilized in fracking operations,well production in general, drilling operations, permanent placement atthe well, and may be utilized in other applications where it isdesirable to separate solids from liquids via evaporation and orevaporation in general other than oil and gas applications.

The term “sparging” generally refers to taking air from the blower andor hot air combustion gases from the evaporation system and introducingit into the staging tank whereby wastewater may have its hydrocarbonsreleased by agitating the wastewater, which thereby releases trapped gasin the wastewater. Invention 10 also contemplates that the spargingprocess may also function to preheat the wastewater before enteringevaporation system, which may increase the temperature to around but notlimited to 150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is also understood that in biochemical engineering, sparging can alsobe a method to remove low-boiling liquids from a solution. Thelow-boiling components tend to evaporate more rapidly, hence they may beremoved from the bulk solution containing higher-boiling components.

Invention 10 also contemplates volatilizing contaminant. Vaporextracting system refers to the use of a vacuum pump or blower that usesslight vacuum to remove the vapors from the headspace of the stagingtank and transfer them to the combustion or treatment process. Duringair sparging, direct volatilization of the absorbed and trappedcontaminants is enhanced in the zones where airflow takes place. Directvolatilization of any compound is governed by its vapor pressure, andmost volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are easily removed throughvolatilization.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the invention in order that the detailed description thereofthat follows may be better understood and in order that the presentcontribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course,additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafterand which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of theinvention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited in this application to the details of construction and to thearrangements of the components set forth in the following description orillustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyemployed herein are for the purpose of description and should not beregarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily beutilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods, andsystems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention.It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as includingsuch equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially theengineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patentor legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursoryinspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of theapplication. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention ofthe application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended tobe limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application with a pretreatmentoperation at the staging tank and method of using the same, which maysparge the wastewater in the staging tank thereby releasinghydrocarbons, which may then be supplied to the burner and then pumpingthese stripped hydrocarbons into the combustion process, flare,hydrocarbon filter, carbon filter, and or combinations thereof.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application and method, which is of adurable and reliable construction and may be utilized with oil and gasoperations in general, multiple wells and or single well sites,pipelines, and so forth.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a newand improved wastewater evaporation application and method, which is ofa durable and reliable construction and may be utilized to dispose ofcontaminated water in other applications not associated with oil and gasoperations such as but not limited to leachate from landfills, miningoperations, environmental disasters such as flooding, and so forth.

An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application and method, which issusceptible to a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materialsand labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible to low prices ofsale to the consuming industry, thereby making such tool economicallyavailable to those in the field.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application and method, which providesall of the advantages of the prior art, while simultaneously overcomingsome of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedwastewater evaporation application and method, which maximizesevaporation of water and concentrates solids for disposal.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedwastewater evaporation application and method, which maximizesevaporation of water and concentrates solids such as but not limited tosalt creating brine, which may be utilized in other applications. Yetanother object of the present invention is to provide a new and improvedwastewater evaporation application and method that may be generallyportable and or mobile and moved from site to site with existingtransportation equipment.

An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application and method, which improvesthe evaporation process in general and is also environmentally friendly.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved wastewater evaporation application and method, which reducesrisky, high-cost handling; increases production through shut-downavoidance; and improves cost management predictability.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a newand improved wastewater evaporation application and method, which may beutilized in aspects of oil and gas operations as well as otherapplications where it is desirable to remove solids from wastewater orwater in general.

These, together with other objects of the invention, along with thevarious features of novelty, which characterize the invention, arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages, and the specific objects attained by its uses,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PICTORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS, GRAPHS, DRAWINGS, ANDAPPENDICES

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those setforth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the annexed pictorial illustrations, graphs, drawings, and appendiceswherein:

FIG. 1 is a general illustration of a preferred embodiment of theinvention depicting a schematic view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the illustrations and to FIG. 1 in particular, referencecharacter 10 generally designates a new and improved apparatus, system,and method of using same constructed in accordance with the presentinvention. Invention 10 is generally used with a well utilized for theretrieval of hydrocarbons below the surface and the treatment ofwastewater from same. It is understood that invention 10 may be utilizedin numerous other applications where it is desirable to treat wastewaterand or contaminated water in general and the current invention shouldnot be considered limited to just oil and gas applications. Furthermore,it is also to be understood that the current invention may be used fortreating waste water from oil and gas producing wells as well as fromdrilling, from drilling operations, fracking operations, midstreamapplications, pipelines in general, combinations thereof and so forth.

Invention 10 may be utilized in other applications where it is desirableto dispose of contaminated water such as run off and or leachate fromlandfills, mining operations, natural disasters such as flooding wherelarge amounts of water get contaminated from overflown sewage, and soforth. Invention 10 may be utilized to concentrate salt into a desirablebrine, which may be utilized in other applications.

Invention 10 may generally include an evaporator system 20 with anevaporator 30, a blower 40, a burner 50, a staging tank 60, acontainment tank 65, a staging tank blower 70 and so forth. It isunderstood that an evaporator system 20 may include other features suchas but not limited to a solids container where solids from theevaporation system 20 are ultimately deposited for disposal.

Evaporator system 20 may utilize submerged combustion heating althoughthe invention contemplates other types of known evaporation systems.Submerged combustion heating is generally a method whereby hot productsof combustion are forced through a liquid or liquid-solid mixture toheat the liquid or liquid-solid mixture. An advantage of this heatingsystem is that the heat exchange occurs directly between the hot gaseousproducts of combustion and the liquid. In a submerged combustion system,the hot combustion is typically fueled by a combination of air andnatural gas. Another benefit of such application is the natural gasneeded to fuel the evaporation may come from the well operation therebyeliminating the need for transporting a fuel.

Staging tank 60 may include a first inlet 80 for receiving hydrocarbonladen, wastewater, and or contaminated water 90, in general, via a firstconduit 100, a second inlet 110 for receiving air 120 from blower 40 viaa second conduit 130, a third inlet 140 for receiving hot combustiongases 150 from burner 50 via third conduit 160, and a fourth inlet 170for receiving hot water overflow 180 from evaporator 30 via fourthconduit 190.

It is understood that sparging may occur from air 120 from blower 40mixing in staging tank 60. Invention 10 also contemplates that air 120from blower 40 may be forced air as opposed to natural draft air. It isalso contemplated that the sparging process may benefit from a heatboost from hot combustion gases 150 from burner 50. It is alsocontemplated that invention 10 may increase waste water 90 in stagingtank 60 temperature to about 150-160 degrees Fahrenheit which mayincrease and or improve the evaporation process. It is understood thatmore and or less temperature is contemplated. It is also understood thatinvention 10 may utilize blower 40 of evaporator 30 as described abovebut may also utilize another separate blower 40 not associated withevaporator 30.

Invention 10 also contemplates an increased retention time of wastewater 90 in staging tank 60, which may allow for more hydrocarbons to bestripped before exiting staging tank 60. Retention time may be but isnot limited to 7-20 minutes although more and or less time iscontemplated.

Staging tank 60 may include a first outlet 200 for passing strippedwater 210 still having contaminants 220 to evaporator 30 via fifthconduit 230. Staging tank 60 may also include a second outlet 240leading to and or communicating with staging tank blower 70, which maythen pass hydrocarbon laden vapor 250 from staging tank 60 to burner 50via sixth conduit 260. Invention 10 contemplates light end hydrocarbonsmay be turned into vapor.

It is understood that blower 40 provides air 270 to burner 50 viaconduit 280. It is contemplated that blower 40 may provide air 120 tostaging tank 60 via conduit 280 being connected to staging tank 60second conduit 130. It is also contemplated that staging tank 60 mayprovide hydrocarbon laden vapor 250 from second outlet 240 via sixthconduit 260 being connected to conduit 280.

Evaporator 30 may have many inlets and outlets. In a preferredembodiment burner 50 provides heat 290 to evaporator 30 via conduit 300.It is understood that conduit 300 may connect with staging tank 60 thirdconduit 160. Evaporator 30 may have a first outlet 310 for passing watervapor and combustion gases 320 via first conduit 330. Evaporator 30 mayhave a second outlet 335 for passing salt solids 340 via second conduit350. It is understood that other solids may be passed other than saltsolids 340. Evaporator 30 may have a third outlet 360 for passing hotwater overflow 180 to staging tank 60 via fourth conduit 190. It isunderstood that evaporator 30 may have a first inlet 370 for receivingstripped water 210 from staging tank 60 via fifth conduit 230 and asecond inlet 380 for receiving heat 290 from burner 50 via conduit 300.

Invention 10 contemplates that containment tank 65 may have an inlet 390and an outlet 400 for passing free liquid 410 back to staging tank 60fifth inlet 420 via conduit 430. Containment tank 65 may include otherfeatures not depicted such as other outlets, inlets, transportationmechanisms and so forth.

In a preferred embodiment, invention 10 may be a perpetual systemwherein there may be a constant flow from staging tank 60 and just oneactual water level control valve 440 from first inlet 80 during the flowprocess. Invention 10 also contemplates that staging tank 60 may utilizea mechanical float 450 for wastewater level 460 control. Mechanicalfloat 450 may be non-mechanical and or utilized to shut and or openlevel control valve 440. It is understood that other known methods ofwater level control are contemplated.

Changes may be made in the combinations, operations, and arrangements ofthe various parts and elements described herein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, names, titles,headings and general division of the aforementioned are provided forconvenience and therefore, should not be considered limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wastewater evaporation system comprising: anevaporator system having a first blower adapted to blow air, a burneradapted to produce hot combustion gases, and an evaporator adapted toproduce solids from wastewater wherein said blower is connected to saidburner by providing air thereto and said burner is connected to saidevaporator by providing hot combustion gases thereto and wherein saidevaporator includes a first outlet for passing water vapor andcombustion gases out of said evaporator via a conduit; a containmenttank for receiving said solids and unevaporated portion of saidwastewater from said evaporator; a staging tank having a first inlet forreceiving said wastewater, a second inlet to receive said air from saidfirst blower to sparge said wastewater, a third inlet to receive saidhot combustion gases from said burner to heat said wastewater, a fourthinlet to receive hot water overflow from said evaporator, a fifth inletadapted to receive free water from said containment tank, a first outletfor sending stripped water to said evaporator, and a second outlethaving a second blower for sending laden vapor from said staging tank.